Solitude Aeturnus – Hour of Despair

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Metal Mind Productions
Produced by Tomasz Dziubinski (MMP)

Although much less well-known than some of their contemporaries, Texas doom band Solitude Aeturnus have reached the same cult status amongst doom fans over their 20-year career and this DVD represents the first ever visual document of their pummeling live show.

Recorded at the Stodola Club in Warsaw, Poland on February 12 this year alongside Vader and Onslaught (who both also taped their set for DVD releases) Hour of Despair highlights every aspect of the Solitude Aeturnus sound. Vocalist Robert Lowe, now also of Candlemass, casts his magnificent evil voice over John Perez and Steve Moseley’s brutal riffs from start to finish and the crowd, although not all necessarily there for Solitude, are lively and very appreciative.

The recording is flawless, showcasing every band member with crystal clear video and superb audio clarity. All too often metal DVDs have such a focus on the vocals and the guitar that the rhythm section takes a back seat in terms of both screen time and sound mix, but that’s not the case here. The drums and bass, courtesy of Steve Nichols and James Martin respectively, are just as audible and just as oft featured as Lowe, Perez and Moseley. The editing, which is the factor that most often undoes a good live DVD, is also good, focusing on the right band member at the right time and lingering just long enough for you to see what’s going on without overstaying the welcome.

A setlist which spans the band’s whole career packs in riff after crushing riff from each of their six studio albums with a highlight difficult to choose, such is the consistently high quality of what’s on offer. Songs stretching from the late ’80s through to 2006′s Alone, their first album in 8 years, all sit well alongside each other in the live set, with everything from Destiny Falls To Ruin, one of the earliest songs written with Robert Lowe (who replaced Kris Gabehardt in 1988), to Waiting For The Light, Scent of Death, Sightless and Is There from the latest album.

The bonus bootleg footage from 1987 and 1992 is about what you’d expect in terms of video quality (terrible) but is surprisingly good in the audio department. The only other thing amongst the bonus features worth mentioning is the interview with Lowe and Perez which is a very forthright, but laid back and often funny discussion with the Polish interviewer concentrating very hard on his English (and doing rather well).

All in Hour of Despair is a fantastic package that all Solitude Aeturnus fans literally can’t afford to be without.

“ brutal ”

Tracklist: Scent of Death / Haunting The Obscure / Mental Pictures / Destiny Falls To Ruin / Sightless / The 9th Day: Awakening / Phantoms / Is There / Pawns of Anger / Waiting For The Light / Days of Prayer / Falling
Bonus Features:
Live At On The Rocks, Dallas, Texas 1992 (bootleg): Intro / Opaque Divinity / Hourglass / Where Angels Dare To Tread / Seed of The Desolate
Live at Jon’s Garage, Ft. Worth, Texas 1987 (bootleg): Into Battle / Where Angels Dare To Tread
Interview with Robert Lowe and John Perez / Photo Gallery / Band History / Discography / Desktop images / Weblinks

Written by Andy Lye
More: Doom Metal, Live DVDs, Solitude Aeturnus